Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 36, episode 18, “Estranger Things”
While The Simpsons season 36 episode 16 ended with Bart and Lisa blowing up the world in a flash forward thanks to their immature sibling antics.
With such extreme events existing in the outlandish world of the show, it is hard to imagine how The Simpsons season 37 would top this. However, much like season 36’s premiere “Bart’s Birthday” managed to surprise even longtime fans, season 36’s finale “Estranger Things” also began with a big twist that even seasoned viewers would not have seen coming. This writer has been following the series for over two and a half decades, and I can it that I was genuinely surprised by the episode’s big revelation.
Marge Dies Before Homer In The Simpsons Season 36 Finale
The Simpsons Season 36 Finale Ended With Marge Marrying Ringo Starr In Heaven
ittedly, The Simpsons changes its inconsistent canon all the time, so a lot of events that would have major ramifications in other shows barely faze the characters. That said, it was still shocking when, as the episode jumped forward into the future, “Estranger Things” revealed that Marge died before Homer. The opening third of the episode was dedicated to Bart and Lisa’s shared love of Itchy and Scratchy, and the way the violent cartoon led them to bond throughout their childhood.
However, when the pair learned that Itchy and Scratchy now made merchandise for babies thanks to Marge’s latest purchase for Maggie, they balked and immediately stopped watching the show. As Lisa watched a parody of New Girl and Bart got into the show’s affectionate spoof of Smiling Friends, the two grew apart and Marge fretted over their emotional distance. Since The Simpsons often devotes Act 1 of any given episode to a side story, this plot seemed like it might end there.
Marge’s worries about Lisa and Bart’s increasing distance ended abruptly when guest star Sarah McLachlan’s song revealed that Marge died before Homer.
Instead, after a musical interlude that parodied Toy Story 2, Marge’s worries about Lisa and Bart’s increasing distance ended abruptly when guest star Sarah McLachlan’s song revealed that Marge died before Homer. When she died, Bart and Lisa were more distant than ever, with Lisa leading the WNBA and Bart continuing to live at home well into adulthood. Marge’s funeral was briefly glimpsed, but no cause of death was mentioned, although McLachlan’s song did note how unlikely it seemed that Marge would fail to outlive her husband.
Bart and Lisa Grow Apart In Adulthood
Lisa Becomes Head of the WNBA
While McLachlan’s song highlighted how unexpected this twist was, the end of “Estranger Things” revealed things weren’t all bad for Marge. She ended up with Ringo Starr in Heaven, a gag that worked as a callback to season 2, episode 18 “Brush with Greatness.” Like season 36, episode 17’s Jill Sobule dedication, this joke was a fun, cute homage to a pop legend. Meanwhile, the rest of the episode was dedicated to Bart and Lisa’s struggles with each other in the future.
Although Lisa initially thought Bart's work was social security fraud and elder abuse, she later learned that Lenny, Carl, Comic Book Guy, and Homer loved living with Bart.
While Lisa had an impressive job running the WNBA, which was now so popular that it was known as the NBA while the male equivalent had become the MNBA, Bart was less fortunate. The eternal slacker was running a “Nursing home” scam where he allowed Homer and his elderly friends to party in exchange for their social security checks. Although Lisa initially thought Bart's work was social security fraud and elder abuse, she later learned that Lenny, Carl, Comic Book Guy, and Homer loved living with Bart, who proved a surprisingly capable if unconventional caretaker.
Senior Services Took Homer After Lisa’s Complaint
Lisa Worried About Bart’s Unofficial Care Home
Bart’s genuine skill with the elderly residents of his childhood home led Lisa to realize he wasn’t wasting his life or endangering their father as she had feared. Sadly, it was too late. Lisa had already complained to Senior Services, who abducted Homer and put him on a bus to Florida. The Simpsons has mocked its writing more than once in season 36, but the finale built up to a classic ending chase that was full of heart and humor.
Bart and Lisa's Dangerous The Simpsons Season 36 Finale Team-Up Explained
The Simpsons Season 36’s Finale Saw Bart and Lisa Stage A Daring Rescue
Bart and Lisa put their disagreements aside to find and rescue Homer, following the bus en route to Florida. When the bus refused to pull over, Lisa and Bart used their love of Itchy and Scratchy to save Homer when they played a classic episode over the bus intercom. After tricking the elderly into thinking they all needed to use the restroom simultaneously, the siblings used Bart’s knowledge of Homer’s bathroom habits to break their father out of a rest-stop bathroom.
The Simpsons Season 36 Episode 17 Completely Changed A Character Who’s Been Around For 34 Years
The Simpsons season 36 episode 17 fundamentally changes a character who has been around for 34 years now, but these alterations may be a good thing.
Earlier in the episode, Bart convinced Lisa that he really was taking care of their father when he outlined the particulars of Homer’s bathroom routine. Here, that gag paid off as Bart helped Homer off the toilet and into a crack in the ceiling tiles, allowing the pair to sneak him out of the bathroom and into Bart’s Camaro. Soon, they were en route back to Springfield, which was when the episode cut back to Marge in Heaven and revealed she had married Ringo Starr in the afterlife.
How The Simpsons Season. 36 Finale Sets Up Season 37
The Simpsons Season 37 Could Do Anything After This Finale’s New Future
While rarely changes its status quo, this can sometimes work in the show’s favor. After all, various earlier episodes of The Simpsons set in the future have depicted a variety of contradictory fates for the family, and all of these can simultaneously be as canonical as each other thanks to the show’s ever-shifting continuity. Marge dying before Homer seems unlikely, but it may only be true for this one episode.
The Simpsons is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.
When The Simpsons season 37 arrives, the show may shock everyone by continuing this particular future storyline. However, it is more likely to return to episodic adventures where each week’s standalone story has little overlap with the last or the next episode. This gives the show the freedom to take its storylines anywhere and pull off huge twists, like revealing Marge’s future death in The Simpsons season 36 finale, without having to retain these plot details later on.
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The Simpsons
- Release Date
- December 17, 1989
- Network
- FOX
- Showrunner
- Al Jean
Cast
Tress MacNeille
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- David Silverman, Jim Reardon, Mark Kirkland
- Writers
- Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Sam Simon
- Franchise(s)
- The Simpsons
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